


Buttoning and Unbuttoning

by mrs_leary (julie)



Category: A Prayer for my Daughter - Thomas Babe, Merlin (TV) RPF, The Guardian (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-23
Updated: 2009-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-28 06:19:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/304668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie/pseuds/mrs_leary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems as if Jimmy Rosario will take the fall for a murder he didn’t commit – until he meets Bradley Fallin, a corporate lawyer doing community service as a public defender.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Buttoning and Unbuttoning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rodneyscat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rodneyscat/gifts).



> This is very much an alternate Bradley/Colin – way more alternate than I’ve written before. But I do sincerely believe that every Colin incarnation needs his own Bradley incarnation, and this is how this one worked out.
> 
> It features the character Jimmy Rosario from the play _A Prayer for My Daughter_ , as performed by Colin Morgan. But hopefully those of you who haven’t seen or read the play will still be able to understand the fic, as I try to cover the salient points within the first couple of scenes.
> 
> It also features an alternate Bradley that draws on the character Nick Fallin from the tv show _The Guardian_ (originally performed by another darling of mine, Simon Baker). Again, hopefully you won’t need to know anything about that show in order to read this fic.
> 
> Seeing as the play is set in 1977 in New York, and the tv show is set a few years ago in Pittsburgh, I have taken the coward’s way out and decided this is in pre–HIV New York, but have otherwise not been very specific about time or place.
> 
> This is dedicated to **rodneyscat** , my fellow Colin!nut, who is as fascinated by Colin’s theatre work as I am. (And I’m sorry if this fic completely misses the point.) Here’s hoping we’ll see Colin on the stage in person one day, hon, instead of only in our overactive imaginations!

♦  


## crime

  
‘James Rosario?’ Bradley asked as he entered the interview room.

The defendant was lying on his back across the width of the table, his knees bent and his feet tucked up near his butt and his thighs falling wide, his head and shoulders hanging off the near edge, his arms drooping to either side towards the floor. For a moment he blinked at Bradley upside down – but then his lips parted in surprise, and he quickly twisted up and around, as lithe as a cat, until he was sitting up on the side of the table, leaning forward and gazing at Bradley as if he’d never seen anything quite like him before.

‘I’m Bradley Fallin, Mr Rosario. The Public Defenders Office appointed me to your case.’

‘Luminous!’ Rosario blurted. ‘Under that dark suit and button–down shirt, you’re shining like the sun.’

‘So we’re going to plead diminished capacity, are we?’ Bradley said dryly. He put his briefcase and Rosario’s file on a corner of the table, but pointedly didn’t sit down.

The guard opened the door and poked his head in. ‘Jimmy, get off the table, and go and sit like you’re approaching appropriate.’

‘Yes, sir! Sorry, Sam.’

‘Sure you’re sorry, Jimmy. _Sure_ you are.’ This was said with surprising fondness.

Bradley cast another glance over his client while they settled opposite each other and Bradley pulled the slim file closer. Rosario had thick black hair and warm dark blue eyes, sharp cheekbones and a long face. The file said he was twenty–three, and he had a beard growing in, but his flawless pale skin and an odd air of innocent eagerness made him seem far younger. Young, yes, and pretty. The wildness of the hair and the carelessness of the stubble did not disguise the prettiness of James Rosario. Apparently the young man was prepared to trade on that, too, for his prison–issue orange overalls had been left completely unbuttoned, and his white t–shirt was hitched up to his ribs, with the fabric tied in a jaunty knot off to one side. Displaying his belly button and a virile flame of dark hair disappearing down under the waistband of his boxers. Bradley started reading the file.

‘Mr Fallin…?’

‘The charges are second degree murder and robbery. It’s your first arrest. Is that correct?’

‘Mr Fallin, are you representing Simon, too?’

Bradley flicked through the few pages, skimming the vital points. Simon Cohn, aged forty–one, arrested with Rosario and facing the same charges. ‘That wouldn’t be in your interests,’ Bradley said. ‘He gave you up on this one.’

Rosario withdrew a little, his enthusiasm dimming.

‘Were you aware that he made a sworn statement that you were the one who shot…’ he flipped back to check the name – ‘Mrs Eva Linowitz. That the robbery was your idea in the first place. He makes it sound as if he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

‘Yes,’ said the young man wistfully, ‘I was aware.’ Then his dark liquid gaze was directly on Bradley’s. ‘I was his sunshine for such a long while.’

‘He betrayed you.’

After a moment, Rosario just nodded, apparently accepting this.

Bradley flipped through the file again. ‘These cops, Kelly and Delasante, I’ve dealt with them before. They’re jokers. Did they read you your rights?’

‘No.’

Bradley stared at him hard for a moment. ‘Are you sure?’

Rosario shrugged. ‘Not that I remember. And Simon said they hadn’t.’

‘These reports – all very cut–and–dried, very proper – all written by Delasante, I’m guessing – These reports say they arrested you at the scene, and read you your rights there.’

‘I don’t remember that.’

‘They didn’t tell you that you had the right to an attorney, that anything you said could be used as evidence against you…?’

Another shrug. ‘No.’

‘Where’s the gun?’

‘What gun?’ Rosario’s gaze slid shiftily aside.

‘The murder weapon.’

‘Oh _that_ gun. I don’t know. I don’t like guns. Generally I have as little to do with them as possible. I think Simon must have done it.’

‘If one of you _did_ shoot the woman, and you were both arrested at the scene, then why isn’t the murder weapon listed as evidence?’

Rosario shrugged again, and turned a wistfully confused face to Bradley.

‘Were you high that night? Is that why you can’t remember?’

‘Yeah, I think I must have been. Even before…’

‘Do you remember the shooting at all? The gun going off in a small room like that. It would have been hard to ignore.’

‘No…’

‘Was there more than one shot?’ Bradley asked carefully.

‘No. No, I think maybe… we saw the door open. We went in just in case there was anything…’

‘Is that what you remember or what you imagine?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t remember.’

Bradley shook his head. ‘This is ridiculous. You were found at the scene, but they’ve got one piece of circumstantial evidence against you, and no real proof at all. The case shouldn’t have gotten past arraignment. I’m going to ask the judge to dismiss the charges.’ He made a couple of notes, and shut the file. It was all a complete waste of time.

‘Ridiculous, yeah,’ Rosario was murmuring. ‘It was a crazy night… Even before the skinny one gave me junk, and the fat one made me strip, and I shot him in the ass. They were two _crazy_ cops, man.’

He took a moment with all of that. Then he asked, ‘What?’

Rosario shut his mouth, pressed his lips together, knowing he’d said too much.

Bradley took it one item at a time. ‘Delasante _gave_ you a fix?’

A mute nod in reply.

Not that he’d probably be able to make that stick if he tried to pursue it. ‘And they made you strip? In the stationhouse.’

Another nod.

‘Not as part of processing you into prison? Or the holding cells? But as part of the interrogation…?’ Bradley thought he should be beyond surprise by now. ‘And yet you were armed?’

‘The fat one let me grab his gun. But I didn’t mean for it to go off. He was kinda sweet on me.’

‘So that explains the gunshot residue on your hand and forearm?’

Rosario frowned at him. ‘I guess. I didn’t shoot anyone else.’

Bradley sat back, feeling a bit rocked. ‘They’re using that as evidence for the case when they knew all along… You shouldn’t even be here. Those stupid fucking jokers.’

‘Mr Fallin –’

He got up, collected his briefcase and the file. ‘I’ll see you at the hearing, Mr Rosario. I can’t make any promises, but I don’t think this is going to go much further.’ He was at the door. ‘I don’t think we can do anything about how those jokers treated you, but I can at least threaten to if they try to pursue these charges.’

‘Mr Fallin –’

Bradley paused, recalled himself, let go of the door handle. He’d already been moving on mentally as well as physically to his next appointment, back at his father’s law firm. ‘Yes?’

A smile rewarded him. A sweet smile curving lips that Bradley had been trying not to notice were the prettiest feature of this pretty young man. ‘Thank you – May I call you Bradley?’

‘No.’

The smile grew wider with wry amusement. ‘Thank you, Mr Fallin.’

Bradley cast another glance over him. Gestured with his free hand towards Rosario’s bare belly. ‘No one’s going to give you the respect you deserve if you don’t respect yourself first.’

Slowly Rosario tugged at the knot until it pulled loose, gazing at Bradley all the while. Then he gathered the t–shirt, stretched it out, lifting it up in the process to reveal – perhaps inadvertently – a dusky brown nipple. It seemed hard. Bradley thought how it would be to bite at it, with that lean body stretching and twisting lithe beneath his.

Then the t–shirt was being tucked in, the overalls buttoned. Bradley turned towards the door again. ‘Luminous,’ Rosario murmured as Bradley made his escape.

He didn’t respond, of course. But he did glance back, just once, at the last possible moment before he turned into the main corridor. Rosario was standing at the window of the interview room, palms and long pale fingers pressed against the glass, staring avidly after him. He looked – He looked as if –

Rosario looked as if he were already balls–deep in love.

♦

Bradley only just got to the hearing in time – partly because he was so busy these days that he would never be early for anything even if he tried, and partly because he wanted to avoid any kind of one–to–one situation with Rosario. So of course he discovered that the judge was delayed on another case, and he was expected to wait with Rosario in one of the courthouse interview rooms with a guard just outside the door.

Rosario grinned happily when Bradley walked in. ‘It just got a whole lot brighter in here.’

Bradley nodded a cool greeting, and got straight to business. ‘Will your wife and daughter attend the hearing, Mr Rosario?’

‘No, man.’ He glanced away, and his happiness dimmed, though he didn’t seem annoyed or aggrieved.

‘It would be in your interests to present yourself to the court as a family man with responsibilities that you take seriously.’

‘And I do take them seriously. I’m my daughter’s father till the day I die. But what you’re talking about, that would be a lie, man. That would be a scrap of darkness right there.’ Rosario paused for a moment as Bradley sat down across the table from him.

Bradley opened the man’s file and started skimming through it again. He hadn’t had the chance to review it again, so it was wise to refresh his memory while he could.

Despite the fact that Bradley didn’t prompt for any further details, Rosario soon continued. ‘My wife Lisa, she’s found herself a more reliable man. I saw that coming a long time ago, but I’ve been gone for three months now. Mark, he’s righteous, he’s good for her.’

Bradley found himself arguing. ‘The judge doesn’t need to know that.’

‘I don’t expect them to play that kind of game. And my daughter Luce, she’s only five – five years and seven months. She don’t need this kind of drama.’

He lifted his chin in acknowledgement of this instance of selflessness, and went back to the file.

‘What’s your story, sunshine?’ Rosario asked a moment later, with real curiosity. ‘Why ’re you working for the Public Defenders Office? I might never ’ve worn one myself, but I know a good suit when I see one, and I figure those threads of yours probably cost more than everything I own put together. You don’t belong in this part of the world.’

‘Community service,’ Bradley answered shortly. ‘And don’t call me that.’

‘Why not? My daughter’s hair is like a candle flame, but your hair’s like sunshine on a summer day. What did you get done for?’

‘Drugs,’ he said, glancing directly at his client. He never tried to hide the truth. At least, not about this. ‘That’s what you said he called you. Simon Cohn.’

‘Oh,’ said Rosario, looking back at him, rocked and intrigued.

‘Yes.’

‘Are you clean now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Me, too.’

Bradley looked at him. ‘You’ve managed to stay clean in prison?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Keep it that way.’ He might not have quite believed it from anyone else, but Rosario’s expression was unguarded, soft and focussed entirely on Bradley. It seemed that getting past the drugs and putting them behind him was as important to Rosario as to Bradley himself.

Rosario was dressed in a beige suit and ivory shirt that fitted him well enough but did nothing for his colouring. ‘Prison rags,’ he explained with a shrug, correctly reading Bradley’s dubious look.

‘Here,’ Bradley said, reaching for his briefcase. He kept a couple of spare ties in there, mostly for his own use, but occasionally for clients. He chose the light blue one, which would go well enough with the suit and bring out the startling blueness of Rosario’s eyes.

Rosario just stared at it for a moment, not moving. Eventually he said, ‘I dunno how to fix it.’

So Bradley unrolled the tie and looped it loosely around his own neck, quickly tying a four–in–hand and then slipping it off over his head and holding it out to Rosario again. Except that he still looked a bit dumbfounded – grateful but dumbfounded – so Bradley got up and walked around to stand behind him, loosened his jacket and popped up his shirt collar, slid the tie over his head. Fastened it with a dimple just under the knot. Rearranged the man’s shirt collar and jacket, finally smoothing the fabric unnecessarily with each hand sweeping out across surprisingly broad shoulders.

Rosario shivered a little. ‘What can I call you,’ he murmured, ‘if not sunshine?’

Bradley found that he was smiling, his lips curving in real amusement. ‘Mr Fallin.’

‘Hah!’ Rosario barked a laugh – and Bradley was grinning now – but that’s when the guard knocked at the door, put his head in, and announced that the judge was proceeding with the hearings.

♦

Bradley got the case thrown out, of course, and even won a begrudging acknowledgement from the bench that his client had spent too long in prison for no good purpose. To Bradley’s surprise, Rosario was dismayed. He remained there, standing beside Bradley at the defence table, even though the guard was waiting impatiently to escort him back down to the holding area.

‘You can’t just walk out,’ Bradley explained. ‘There’s a process. And you need to collect your belongings.’

‘But when am I gonna see you again?’ Rosario sounded almost desperate.

Bradley chuckled under his breath. ‘Most people hope they never have cause to see a defence attorney again.’

‘I’m not most people.’

‘I’m getting that.’

‘Can I see you?’

He wasn’t going to ask why, he wasn’t going to risk having it said.

‘The tie…’ Rosario’s hands hovered over it, as if too respectful to actually touch the silk.

‘Keep the tie,’ Bradley blurted. _Stupid._

‘Bradley…’

‘No,’ he said firmly. And he turned to quickly gather up the paperwork, get out of the way of the next defendant and attorney. There were a number of people waiting on them now, and Bradley didn’t care about that but he did care about being the centre of a scene in an open court.

‘You’re all buttoned down,’ said Rosario. ‘It’s the darkness surrounding you. But at the core you’re luminous.’

Bradley walked away, briefcase in hand. Everything about him buttoned down, yes.

‘ _Fiercely_ luminous,’ Rosario called after him. ‘Not like the sun. Like a supernova!’

And he was outside in the hallway. Reality swept coolly around him, each fragment of it busy with their own concerns. Bradley stood there alone for a long moment, quiet on the outside, but surprisingly stirred up within. Well. That was that.

Eventually he walked away.

♦

## arrest

  
At first Bradley thought it was stupid for Rosario to have shown up at the law firm instead of the public defenders offices, a crass misjudgement. But he soon realised it was actually a smart move. Rosario so clearly did not fit into this part of the world, was so blunt a reminder of Bradley’s mistakes and misdemeanours, that Bradley was forced to go out to the foyer as soon as he possibly could and silently beckon to Rosario, lead him back though the corridors to his own office.

Bradley closed the door behind him, and they stood there for a moment in the dim grey room, just considering each other. Today Rosario was dressed in jeans and a t–shirt and a sweater, all in muted greens and blues, all frayed and worn but clean. It looked good on him, though of course almost anything would have when compared to orange overalls or a beige suit.

Eventually Rosario held something out to him, still not saying anything – the carefully rolled–up tie, of course. Bradley took it, turned away, and dropped it on his desk. He sighed with impatience, frustration, and observed accusingly, ‘You didn’t come here to return the damned tie.’

‘No.’

‘Then, what –’

‘Simon got out, too,’ Rosario announced, though there was something in his tone which suggested he was changing the subject.

‘Simon Cohn?’

‘Yes.’

Bradley turned around again, propped his butt against the desk. Crossed his arms. He stared at the floor for a long moment, but then considered Rosario thoughtfully. ‘Did he kill that old lady? Mrs, uh – Mrs Linowitz?’

Rosario shrugged, and his gaze slid away. ‘He might have, I don’t know. It wasn’t me. But maybe it wasn’t him, either. Maybe we did just walk in through an open door…’

‘Are the police looking for another suspect, or have they closed the case?’

Another shrug. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think they’re looking.’

‘If you hear anything –’ But he really didn’t want to give Rosario another reason to show up again. ‘If you hear anything, take it to the police.’

‘Huh…’ A soft snort of a laugh. They both knew how unlikely it was that would be of much use.

They were silent for a time, until Rosario shifted away a little and murmured, ‘Simon…’

‘Was he your lover?’

Rosario shrugged. ‘Sort of.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It was kinda like that. Only he doesn’t have sex. We hardly kissed, even. So kinda not. He called me… his daughter.’

Bradley stared hard at the man. ‘What?’

Another shrug. ‘He’s a teacher. A philosopher. He taught me things about the dark and about the light. He’s a father to me. But affectionate, real affectionate. Not like a father would be with a son, but warm and… flirtatious. Like with a daughter.’

There was something very wrong about all that. But Bradley couldn’t quite deny that there was something very right about it, too. Surely even his own father would have treated him more affectionately if Bradley wasn’t a son. A flicker of yearning within him became a tiny flame.

Despite all of which, Bradley found himself saying to Rosario, ‘You don’t treat your own daughter in the ways Simon Cohn treated you.’

A sweet happy grin stretched Rosario’s long face and lit him up into real beauty. ‘Luce, Lucy, Lucient…’ he intoned. ‘No matter what else is happening, I walk her to school each morning, pick her up every afternoon, walk her home, we play a game together. One day, when she’s old enough to have homework, I’ll help her with that.’ He giggled, a charming sound. ‘Lisa lets me stay long enough for me and Lucy to play one game, one game only, so we drag it out and make it last as long as we can. It’s like a conspiracy, but only in fun. She loves Lisa, we both do. And I take Luce to the park or whatever on the weekends.’

Bradley nodded. ‘That’s good. But tell me you’re not seeing Simon Cohn again.’

Rosario’s face fell into bleakness, and he turned away. ‘It’s difficult,’ he said thickly, ‘starting over when nothing’s really changed.’

‘I know that,’ Bradley rawly replied.

‘I don’t even have Lisa now, to give me a reason –’

‘You have your daughter. You can be strong for her sake.’

‘It’s not enough. And, you know, _she’s going to be all right_ no matter what happens to me.’

‘Don’t see him any more,’ Bradley insisted. _‘He betrayed you.’_

‘I know,’ Rosario said, as if his heart were breaking. ‘I know.’

Bradley lifted up off the desk, let his arms fall loose, took a step towards the man. ‘James.’

‘None of that’s why I came.’

He wasn’t going to ask, he wasn’t going to risk it.

Rosario turned to him, and – changeable as the weather – he was still intense but bright now. Bright and bold. ‘I owe you.’

‘No, you don’t.’

‘You got me off,’ he said with a wink.

‘I was doing my job.’

‘Does that door lock?’

‘No.’

‘I wanna get you off.’

‘You know very well that I don’t want anything in return.’

‘Which makes me want you all the more.’

‘Stop it –’ He tried to call this bewitching man ‘Mr Rosario’ again, but he couldn’t quite manage it. ‘James. Stop it.’

‘If you lean back against the door, then no one can come in, even if they try.’

‘No.’

♦

Barely a minute later the weight and width of his shoulders were against the door barring entry, and his trousers were undone, his shirt unbuttoned, his hips shoved forward – and those pretty lips were stretched around his cock, one of his hands tangling in that wild dark hair, one of James’s hands rolling Bradley’s balls in his palm with the most perfect pressure while the other was plunged into his own jeans, echoing the rhythm, sharing the pleasure – _oh god the pleasure, the sheer fucking **pleasure** of it…_

It was all Bradley could do not to cry out when he came, pouring his spunk down that long beautiful willing throat – the vibrations of James’s quiet moans as he came, too, drawing it all out almost unbearably.

A quiet moment in which James still knelt on the floor, his lips against Bradley’s softening cock, his face damp and warm against everything down there, his tongue flicking out as if to say farewell. Then he was neatly buttoning Bradley back up and tucking his shirt in, standing to press a kiss to Bradley’s mouth, the scent and taste of him intriguingly sharp with spunk. They gazed at each other silently, Bradley stunned and Rosario already gut–deep in love. Another pressed kiss from bittersweet lips.

Then Rosario stepped back, lifted a brow to ask Bradley to let him through. Bradley opened the door, and watched the man walk away down the corridor.

And that was that. Except this time Bradley _knew_ it wasn’t over. Not yet.

♦

## arraignment

  
Rosario showed up one morning about a week later at the public defenders offices, and sat himself down in the foyer, which was really just the section nearest the main doors of the large frantic open–plan office. ‘Tell him he’ll have to wait,’ Bradley said, sending a speculative scowl in Rosario’s direction.

‘How long?’ Barbara the receptionist asked, as from across the room Rosario responded to Bradley with a sweet wicked smile.

‘I’m solidly booked all day, aren’t I?’

She grinned at him wolfishly, not at all sorry about Bradley being put on the spot. ‘I don’t think you’ll outlast him,’ she advised. And she would know, she’d been working here for twenty–something years and could take the measure of a man in a glance.

‘We’ll see.’ Bradley turned back just before he reached his tiny office. ‘ _Don’t_ give him coffee,’ he told her. ‘Don’t encourage him.’

‘Coward,’ she muttered, though she undercut it with a slightly warmer grin.

♦

Next time he emerged, Bradley found that Barbara had Rosario helping her with some filing, and they were giggling together over some shared joke or whatever. He shook his head at them both in exasperation, but that didn’t stop them.

The time after that, he discovered that Rosario had been sent out on a lunch run. The young man didn’t say anything, but simply handed a sandwich and fruit juice over to Bradley with a wink.

Come mid–afternoon, Bradley figured Rosario’s patience must have finally run out. But Barbara paused by him long enough to say, ‘Jimmy went to collect his daughter from school. He’s such an absolute sweetheart! Then he’s coming back.’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ said Bradley, as ironically as he could manage.

He went to find his last client just before five, and noticed that Rosario and Barbara were sitting at her desk with their heads together over some pamphlets, deep in conversation. He shrugged. Once the client was gone, Bradley reviewed the files and sketched out quick drafts of opening arguments for three cases he was at court for the next day. At six–thirty, he finally packed up, and wound his way through the empty office with his briefcase in his hand.

Rosario was lying stretched out on his back on the ramshackle old sofa, apparently dozing.

Bradley gave serious thought to just walking out, but instead stood there over the man, and said, ‘James.’

Those eyes flickered open, those sweet lips curved into a smile, and Rosario looked up at him. ‘Bradley.’

‘What can I do for you?’

A filthy chuckle spilled from that lovely mouth, but Rosario swung his legs around, sat up, and proffered a handful of pamphlets in Bradley’s direction. ‘There’s this program, like an apprenticeship only you get to go back to school as well. I need your help getting on it.’

Bradley rolled his eyes. ‘Is that all?’ They could have sorted that out within ten or fifteen minutes, and it was legitimate business. He wouldn’t have kept Rosario waiting, if he’d known.

But Rosario chuckled again under his breath, and said very lightly, ‘No, that’s not all.’

And Bradley figured it was just as well they were alone now.

♦

Back in his office, it took him a minute or two to skim through the pamphlets. ‘You’re guaranteed a place if you have a criminal record,’ he noted.

‘But I don’t, thanks to you.’

‘You’re really keen to get into this?’

Rosario shrugged, but he said very earnestly, ‘If I can. I know about cars. I figure a mechanic is a good trade. And I never finished school, not properly, so this ’ll get me that bit of paper, too.’

‘Have you been looking for work?’

‘Yeah, but it’s hard. I couldn’t even get a job as janitor at my daughter’s school – and that’s a place where they _know_ me, they _like_ me, they believe me when I say I’m getting my life back out of the dark and into the light. But an arrest for murder and robbery, and no qualifications, no real employment history – that don’t look so good to anyone.’

‘All right. I’ll see what I can do.’ Bradley knew who to talk to, what favours he could call in. There was one more hurdle, though. ‘You need a sponsor.’

‘Yes.’ And Rosario was looking directly at him with those startling blue eyes.

‘No. I’m on probation. I have a criminal record. Even if I was prepared to do it, they wouldn’t accept me –’

‘Barbara and I went through all that, and she made some calls for me. We couldn’t find anything that says you’d be disqualified, as long as you stick to your probation. We figured maybe these guys don’t have so many options, you know?’

Bradley grimaced. ‘James, I really don’t think it’s appropriate.’

‘Please,’ said Rosario, meaning it from the depths of him.

‘James –’

‘Call me Jimmy. That’s my name.’

Bradley took a moment with that. ‘Wouldn’t you prefer something a little less… diminutive?’

‘It’s my name,’ he insisted.

He sighed, and looked directly at the man sitting across the desk from him. ‘Jimmy, I’ll get you into the program, but if there’s _anyone_ else –’

‘I thought about Mark. Lisa’s partner. He even said he’d do it. He’s righteous, full of light, like you and Barbara. But I don’t wanna…’ He frowned. ‘They have their own life together now. I don’t wanna be a bigger part of it than I need to be, other than where Lucy’s concerned. I don’t wanna owe him too much.’

‘Of course not,’ Bradley said, amazed that Rosario had had such a conversation with his wife’s other man, even if they were estranged. ‘What about a teacher, family member, family friend, neighbour…?’

Rosario shook his head stubbornly. ‘I’m pretty much alone now. I don’t wanna turn back to Simon. He taught me about the light, but he led me into some dark places. Bradley –’ That gaze on him, in him, striking through him. ‘Bradley, I want it to be you.’

And it wasn’t that he couldn’t empathise. The only person Bradley had was his father, and it wasn’t enough. He’d stayed clean through his own sheer will power, aided by a fair amount of fastidiousness. ‘All right,’ he found himself saying. ‘All right.’

♦

Five minutes later, Bradley’s trousers were undone again, his tie loosened and his shirt unbuttoned – and Jimmy was naked, on his back on the desk with his hands clutched hard round the edge, his long legs round Bradley’s waist – Bradley’s hands grasping the man’s hips and lifting them as he drove deep within his dark heat. _Oh god, god, this is **amazing** … God, **he** is amazing!_ Bradley stared down at the lean sexy body that in that moment belonged entirely to him – Jimmy giving himself, unashamedly aroused, undemandingly hungry, gazing back up at him, already heart–deep in love. And Bradley thought to ask, in bursts over his panting breath – ‘Is this – darkness? Is where we are – a dark place? Too dark – for you?’

‘You’re all the light in the world for me, Bradley. You’re the source of all the light there is.’

‘God!’ he protested. ‘Jimmy…’

‘Is this – too messy for you? Too complicated?’

 _‘Hah!’_ he shouted out a laugh. ‘This kind of – complication – I’ve needed it – so badly.’

‘Come for me, then. Make a mess. Fill me with light.’

‘I’d love to,’ said Bradley with quiet sincerity – and then almost before he was aware of it, the end ripped through him, and poured out of him – and almost before he was done, he pulled away, ignoring Jimmy’s bereft cry, and knelt between his thighs, slipping two fingers back in to fill the slippery darkness, and taking the hot hard cock into his mouth to suck on the man until he was shouting loudly enough to shock the entire borough.

♦

Despite starting off naked, Jimmy was pretty much dressed again before Bradley had set his own briefs and shirt and trousers and tie to rights. ‘All this buttoning and unbuttoning,’ Bradley murmured wryly to himself.

‘You should just stay unbuttoned, then,’ Jimmy advised.

And Bradley smiled at him.

♦

## trial

  
‘This can be your room,’ Bradley said as they stood shoulder to shoulder looking in at the spare bedroom in his townhouse. It was furnished with the basics, but was otherwise empty and not even blandly decorated. ‘You can do whatever you want with it.’

Jimmy remained silent.

When Bradley finally looked around, he discovered that Jimmy’s face was so dismayed and confused that he might as well call it heartbroken. Bradley huffed a laugh. ‘I thought you’d want your own space, that’s all. Come here,’ he added, taking Jimmy’s hand, and leading him across to Bradley’s room. This room was all elegant shades of grey, except for the sheets on the king–size bed, which were a rich ruby red. ‘You can sleep here with me whenever you want.’

‘Every night,’ said Jimmy, as if it were obvious.

‘Fine by me,’ Bradley replied.

 _‘Now,’_ Jimmy insisted.

‘Seriously? Now? I thought you said you were hungry, and –’ his words were temporarily muffled in a kiss as Jimmy backed him towards the bed – ‘and we should talk about – we need to set some house rules, and –’

‘Rule One,’ said Jimmy as he stripped Bradley’s shirt off up and over his head, disregarding the buttons entirely. ‘There should be sex. Lots of sex.’

‘Yeah,’ Bradley breathed as Jimmy lifted up his own t–shirt. As soon as his chest was exposed, Bradley bent to bite at one of the hard dusky nipples like he’d wanted to do when they first met.

‘What else?’

‘Uh – Doesn’t matter right now.’

‘Good,’ said Jimmy, and he bore him back down to the bed.

♦

They were both completely naked for the first time, moving against each other. Bradley felt rather stunned. For a while they rolled and twisted around each other, but at last they settled with Jimmy taking charge, shifting to lie over Bradley, their legs interleaving, his hands holding Bradley’s down on the bed, Jimmy thrusting cock against cock with slow quiet purpose. Watching him at arm’s length as Bradley slowly came undone under the relentlessly gentle pressure. Jimmy was soul–deep in love, and didn’t seem to even think of hiding it, of protecting himself.

Bradley groaned after a while, and pushed up with his hands – Jimmy let him go, and resettled closer, his weight on his elbows now – Bradley’s arms lifting to encircle him, to hold him, to tangle fingers in that dark hair and run a palm down the lean lithe back. ‘Jimmy,’ he said, his voice rough with pleasure, with emotion. ‘Jimmy, I –’ And then he was coming, his spunk pulsing strong between them, and Jimmy was muttering something about the light, and he was coming, too, their seed mingling as they slid and pressed together, and the name tore out of him again in a dry ragged sob – _‘Jimmy!’_

♦

It was a long while after that before even Bradley could think about rules. Finally – once they’d randomly put together a few sandwiches, and eaten maybe one each because they were too happy to really need food – once they’d made fresh orange juice and drunk ridiculous amounts of it – once they were back sitting at the table with a pot of coffee brewing between them – then finally Bradley commented, ‘I like your Rule One.’

Jimmy grinned at him, and asked, ‘What’s Rule Two?’

‘No drugs,’ Bradley said, looking at him directly. ‘If you want to live here with me, that’s the one rule neither of us can break.’

‘All right,’ Jimmy amiably agreed.

‘I mean it.’

‘I know, sweetheart.’

Bradley looked at him hard, feeling suspicious, because he hadn’t thought it could be that easy. ‘We _have_ to stay clean.’

Jimmy returned his look very evenly. ‘Don’t you trust me?’

‘There are some things I can’t afford to trust _anyone_ about.’

The amazing thing was that Jimmy didn’t take this personally. He just kind of shrugged, and said, ‘I’ve been pretty much clean for months now. Almost a year. The few times I’ve slipped back into the darkness, I’ve always regretted it. I remember the regret clearer than I remember the high.’

‘All right,’ said Bradley, finally relaxing a little.

‘But I like that you’re fierce. I like that you’re righteous. I’ve been in a place where…’

‘Where what?’ he prompted.

‘Where… I’ve come to appreciate the need for rules. And having a reason to keep them.’ Jimmy nodded equably at him. ‘We can help each other with that.’

‘Yes, we can.’ He shifted his hand over to cover Jimmy’s where it rested on the table, and they clung reassuringly to each other.

‘So, what’s Rule Three?’ Jimmy asked.

After a moment, Bradley nodded. ‘I’m on probation. I _should_ be in prison. Instead, I have a lot of community service to work through. A hell of a lot. And I’m willing to do that, but I want to get through it and put this behind me.’

‘Yes.’

‘So, Rule Three is that we don’t so anything that violates the terms of my probation.’

‘Yeah, of course.’ Jimmy shuddered, perhaps at the memories. ‘I don’t want you going to prison.’

‘All right. Thank you.’ Bradley sighed. ‘One last rule.’

‘Yes?’

‘If you need money, just _ask_. I have plenty.’

Finally Jimmy baulked a little, and that pretty mouth twisted into something sour. ‘I earn my own wages now.’

‘It’s not a lot, though, is it? And I have plenty to share.’ He gestured around him at the townhouse. He didn’t have a great many possessions, but they were all of the best quality. ‘I wouldn’t care very much about all this if you took stuff and sold it –’

Jimmy was looking mortally offended now, but Bradley ploughed on.

‘– they’re just _things_ , after all. But it would be annoying to have to replace them. Tedious. And it would destroy the trust between us.’

The two of them were still holding hands, but Jimmy was staring sullenly at the table. ‘I’m no junkie, not any more. I’m no thief.’

‘I know that,’ Bradley said softly. He shook at Jimmy’s hand to get his attention, and once Jimmy looked up again, Bradley held his gaze and said, ‘This only works if we respect each other.’

A hushed moment passed. ‘You respect me?’

‘Yeah, I do.’

‘No one’s ever respected me before.’

‘ _I_ do. I respect you, James Rosario.’

‘Oh god…’ the man prayed. And all was settled between them.

♦

A long warm Sunday afternoon, and the football was humming along quietly on the television, which was really only an excuse for them to laze about on the sofa. Jimmy was sitting up one end, comfortably settled, while Bradley’s legs were stretched out along the seat, and he was facing Jimmy, curled up, cradled in his arms. And his jeans were undone, and pushed down just far enough so that Jimmy had the access he needed. And Jimmy was slowly pushing a lubricated thumb into Bradley, pushing in slowly and then gently withdrawing before pushing in again with a hypnotic rhythm.

Bradley was aware that Jimmy was watching him carefully, and he’d let his eyes drift closed, but he didn’t hide his face, just let it rest there, tucked against his lover’s chest and bicep. ‘All right, Bradley?’ Jimmy whispered after a long while. ‘Is that feeling all right?’

‘Yeah…’ he replied on a gusty sigh. He’d never let anyone even touch him there before, but with Jimmy it seemed to feel natural, inevitable, that he would let him do this. And Jimmy was taking things so very patiently… Almost too patiently. Bradley gave a little groan. ‘Will you fuck me? _When_ will you fuck me?’

Jimmy chuckled. ‘Not yet, baby. Not yet, sweetheart.’ He didn’t falter. He was tenderly relentless. ‘How does it feel?’ he asked quietly. ‘Bradley, tell me how it feels.’

Another first for him, talking during sex. Exposing himself verbally and emotionally as well as physically. He pressed his face closer against Jimmy’s chest, inhaled the reassuring scent of fresh sweat and their deodorant, their laundry detergent. ‘Just _there_ , in my butt, it feels hot and hard and perfect.’ He sighed, though it was a happy thing. ‘ _I_ feel warm and full. Part of me feels like that’s just perfect, your thumb, the perfect size and shape – and part of me wants more, wants your cock and your balls, too – wants to be filled, completely filled with _you_.’

Jimmy groaned appreciatively. ‘That’s so beautiful, baby, that’s all the light in the universe right there…’

‘Yes,’ he moaned, and as Bradley shifted a little, he felt Jimmy’s nipple hard against his cheek through his t–shirt.

‘D’you want to come now, sweetheart? Are you ready?’

‘Yes.’ Just curled there waiting, and all the volition, all the will in this moment belonged to Jimmy.

‘Touch yourself, then. Reach down and bring yourself off, and tell me how it feels.’

He groaned deep in his throat, pushing his damp open lips against Jimmy’s cotton–covered chest. Snaking his right hand down into his jeans to wrap around his own cock, trembling at first, but then firm and suddenly desperate with that slow relentless thrusting continuing in his ass.

‘How does it feel, baby?’

‘Good, oh so good. I need – _God!_ Not as good as you touching me, tossing me, why the hell is that when I know exactly what I want and how to give it – but when it’s you, Jimmy, when it’s _you_ – _God!_ ’ as that thumb twisted without warning. ‘God… Devastating… I’m nothing but cock and ass and nipples and balls – and _please_ – Jimmy, **_please!_** _Oh fuck, **please** …_’ His own hand frantic, maybe three beats to every thrust of Jimmy’s, and he was whimpering, whimpering, right on the edge for such a delicious long while –

But then that thumb twisted in deeper still, the heel of Jimmy’s hand hard up against him, and Jimmy murmured his name in that beautiful voice – ‘Bradley… come for me…’ – and that was all it took, he clutched harder at his cock, but the spunk was already at last pouring out of him, every wonderful molten drop – and it was easy to believe in Jimmy’s light when Bradley had a sun imploding inside.

♦

‘Bradley.’ An apprehensive tone and a careful shake at his shoulder. ‘Bradley, wake up.’

And he really didn’t want to, curled up there in the warmth of his lover’s arms, so thoroughly satiated he might never want for anything ever again…

‘Bradley.’

But then he heard his name in impatient tones, in a voice he was used to obeying, and he opened his eyes, wrenched himself around to see that his father had let himself in through the french windows at the back of the house – he knew where the emergency key was, of course, and now he was standing there across the room staring at Bradley and Jimmy. Bradley almost fell off the sofa, but managed to save himself in time – scrambled to his feet, one hand holding his jeans up but not doing much for his dignity.

‘Bradley –’

‘Dad!’ he blurted. ‘I wish you’d called first.’

‘I did. You didn’t answer.’

‘Oh.’ He glanced at Jimmy, who’d risen to stand beside him. Clothes secure but rumpled, and a damp patch from Bradley’s dozing mouth on his chest, and his hair all mussed. And Bradley himself was still sticky with spunk, not to mention the fact that his jeans and briefs were loose and barely covering the essentials. ‘Uh – Could you give us a minute?’

‘Yes. I’ll make coffee, if I may.’

‘Of course.’ And while Anthony Fallin strode towards the kitchen, face resolutely turned forward, Bradley ushered Jimmy towards the downstairs bathroom. They washed their hands with soap and water, and Bradley wiped off the worst of the evidence before buttoning himself up again.

Jimmy was watching him, considering him with his arms crossed. ‘Didn’t he know?’

‘Not about you. Sorry.’

‘I’m living here now, and you didn’t tell your father?’

‘ _Sorry._ It’s just – I’ve told him I’m gay. But he’s never _met_ anyone before. He might have managed to pretend it was just a phase, or thought I’d only said it to shock him. We don’t exactly…’

‘What?’

‘Well, the Fallin men aren’t known for their heart–to–hearts, Jimmy. I would have told him. Eventually. I would have introduced you. But it was hard to know how to, when – when –’

‘When you’re trapped in the darkness together.’

He shrugged at the imagery, but it was true enough. ‘Yes.’

‘Huh.’ Jimmy considered him hard for one more long moment. But then he loosened his arms, and his stance. ‘Come on, then. Introduce me. However you want. Whatever you think ’s best. I’d get it if you felt you need to ease into this.’

Which oddly enough gave him courage to do the right thing and have done with it. Bradley walked into the kitchen with Jimmy at his side, to find his father pondering over a steaming coffee pot and three mugs. ‘Dad,’ he said.

Anthony straightened up, and faced them. A little wary, perhaps, but open. Interested. He’d gathered himself enough to show goodwill.

‘Dad, this is James Rosario. Jimmy. He’s living with me now. He’s my…’ He still needed a moment, but his intention didn’t falter. ‘Dad, he’s my lover.’

‘I’m very pleased to meet you, James,’ said Anthony, offering his hand.

‘It’s an honour, sir,’ said Jimmy, shaking his hand firmly.

‘Please call me Anthony.’

‘Jimmy.’

‘Thank you. Well,’ said Anthony, offering a smile to Bradley that was only slightly fragile, ‘shall we take the coffee over to the dining table?’

‘Yes,’ said Bradley, though his voice cracked. ‘Thank you.’

‘Thank _you_ , Bradley,’ Anthony repeated in a low tone. And that’s when Bradley knew that somehow this was going to be all right.

♦

## sentencing

  
On another Sunday afternoon, Bradley was just heading back into the kitchen when he realised he really should be warier these days. ‘I see the light within him,’ Jimmy was saying, ‘though he tries to hide it. The luminosity. Sometimes I can hardly see _him_ for the brilliance.’

‘Yes,’ Anthony replied quite seriously to this preposterousness, ‘Bradley is a far better man at heart than he thinks he is.’

And it was too late, Bradley was already in the doorway, and any moment now they’d see him stripped bare by this sentiment, this kindness – exposed – and sweet misguided Jimmy would only see the light he always talked of – but Anthony would see –

‘My son,’ he said, his voice a little bit broken.

And they defied the heritage of generations of Fallin men, and simply looked at each other, honest and unbuttoned. They didn’t turn away or talk of other things. The world spun ponderously beneath their feet and entered into a new epoch. And after a moment they nodded at each other, acknowledging that that had been good, but now it was time to withdraw and regroup.

Jimmy snorted a laugh. ‘You just saw each other’s light in the darkness. That is so awesome…’ He was busy chopping vegetables for the roast dinner the three men were preparing. ‘ _One_ day you might even hug or something.’

‘You’re a dreamer,’ said Bradley. Anthony laughed, but rather fondly. And they all got on with dinner.

♦

‘Storm’s coming.’

‘Jimmy!’ Bradley gasped. ‘Please.’

‘Storm’s coming,’ the man intoned.

‘Jimmy…’ Bradley was caught, pinned, on his shoulders, his arms stretched out to either side and his head propped up against a pillow. Jimmy was sitting back on his heels, with his hands securely gripping Bradley’s hips, and his cock deep within Bradley’s ass. And Bradley couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but beg for a release that seemed a long way off.

‘Storm’s coming,’ Jimmy said once more, his head back and his eyes closed as if he were lost in another world.

‘ _Fuck_ do I care about the weather…?’ Bradley muttered. Honestly, his first time, and Jimmy had to go and get all mystical on him.

‘For men like us,’ Jimmy suddenly added conversationally, looking down at Bradley now as if nothing else were going on here. ‘It’s time for men like us to find a safe harbour.’

‘Yes,’ said Bradley. ‘Yes. That’s you and me, isn’t it?’

‘That’s you and me, baby,’ Jimmy agreed. Then he pushed up taller onto his knees, crushing Bradley further up, and started thrusting within him again, strong and certain.

‘Please, Jimmy… Oh please, baby…’

‘It’s time for us to cleave together, and forsake all others.’

‘I promise you… I promise you…’

Jimmy ran his hands from Bradley’s hips up his thighs, and he gently pressed his knees a little wider still until Bradley was at full stretch – and then Jimmy pushed his cock further in, and Bradley howled. ‘How does it feel, Bradley? Tell me how it feels.’

‘Oh god… god… there’s nothing but you… you fill me up… you fill me up and there’s no room for anything else…’

‘Does it hurt?’

‘Yes. No. I don’t know.’

Jimmy rocked his hips again, and hit that place within Bradley that made him howl.

‘Please… Please…’

‘D’you want me to stop?’

‘No. No. Want it to _end_.’

Jimmy stilled for a moment, no doubt confused.

‘Please. Make me come. Let me come.’

A wicked grin. ‘ _That_ I can do…’ Jimmy toppled forward so that his weight was on one hand propped on the bed, and Bradley was curled up even further beneath him, and Jimmy’s spare hand unerringly found Bradley’s cock, began stroking it firmly in time with his thrusts. ‘How does it feel, baby?’

‘You fill me up… you surround me… nothing but your light… **_God…!_** ’ Without any build–up or warning at all he was abruptly coming, the spunk pulsing out of him, and it was all one, they were all one. ‘So good… so good… the universe… you, Jimmy… soul–deep heart–deep gut–deep balls–deep in love…’

A cry as Jimmy lost the certainty of his rhythm. ‘Bradley!’

‘Love.’ And suddenly he could move. He was pliable and molten, and he could _move_. Bradley lifted his arms around Jimmy, and held him close as Jimmy thrust raggedly within him. He even found an angle for his hips that let Jimmy in deeper still. ‘Love…’

‘Oh Bradley… _Bradley…_ **_luminous…_** ’ as he came, and they were one creature that could never be sundered. ‘Cleave together,’ Jimmy managed as they lay there panting, twisted around and within each other. ‘Forsaking all.’

‘I promise,’ said Bradley. ‘I promise. For life.’

♦

And when the storm finally came they were safe.

♦


End file.
